Back
to back quality from the Bulgars, who would've thunk it. Downy upper lipped
Kristian Kostov will be lamenting the ballard "Beautiful Mess"
which has a ring of truth about it. It's got a chance, and it's here

Pretty
Poli Genova is back in 2016 with a extremely passable dance-lite number
called "If love was a crime". We'll forgive the line which seems
to be written as "hand me a loofah". It's worth a listen here

Bulgaria
have decided to get Elitsa Todorova and Stoyan Yankulov back for 2013,
who were last seen in Helsinki in 2007 banging their hides with wooden
sticks. They're still banging those hides this time to the vastly inferior
"Samo Shampioni (Only Champions)". Fat chance, and it's here

Sofi
Marinova will be belting out a late 80's club classic, so rip off your
snood and get body popping to "Love Unlimited". Warning: epilectics
(and non-epiletics now I come to think about it) please avoid the video.
But if you really want to take your life into your hands, it's here

We are led to believe that
umbrellas tipped with poison are now a thing of the past in Bulgaria,
which is good news for everyone.
If someone says "Bozo" to you in Bulgaria, don't take offence.
Instead say yes, a take a drink from their millet based beverage, which
by all accounts tastes like Shredded Wheat.

Mourners
in a Bulgarian cemetery ran for cover after a pitched battle between rival
undertakers ended with one of the combatants falling into an open grave.
Evgeni Draganov, of Razgrad, lunged at Stefan Petrakiev, from the nearby
town of Velev, with a shovel after Mr Petrakiev threw a clump of mud at
his head. The men were fighting over a recent court ruling that ended
Mr Draganov's monopoly on digging graves in Razgrad cemetery. Two families,
both burying mothers, witnessed the brawl. One mourner said: "It
was disgusting, they were covered in blood and muck and completely ruined
what should have been a solemn occasion."

A Bulgarian hunter
was shot by his own dog when he tried to knock a bird out of its mouth
with his gun. Vasil Plovdiv, 35, was shooting quail in Rasgrad in the
north-east of the country with his German Pointer when the dog, which
had retrieved a bird, refused to drop it.
According to police, Plovdiv tried to dislodge the dead quail from the
pointer's mouth with the butt of his rifle but the dog sprung at him,
knocking the trigger and peppering the hunter's chest with shot. He is
being treated for chest injuries at the local hospital.

A
picturesque small country called Bulgaria has been existing for more than
13 centuries in Europe, linking East and West. Bulgaria remembers ancient
civilisations and great people that wrote its turbulent history.

Sofia
"Ever Growing, Never Ageing" this motto is written on Sofia's
coat of arms.
Sofia is one of the oldest settlements in Europe. For over 7000 years
Sofia has been a meeting place of the four directions of the world. Tribes
and peoples came and went, civilisations flourished and declined but the
city stayed forever. Historically it has been recorded as Serdica, Triaditsa,
Sredets and Sofia. Old Sofia is literally buried beneath a modern facade.

A
Bulgarian woman rated the world's cleverest wants a British firm to give
her a job after spending two years on the dole. Bulgarian Daniela Simidchieva,
a mother of three, has five Masters Degrees and an IQ of almost 200. She's
listed by the country's Mensa office as the world's cleverest but despite
sending off hundreds of applications she still hasn't found a job.
Her IQ is the same as that of chemist Marie Curie who was the first person
to win the Noble Prize twice but cannot even get a cleaning job.
Daniela said: "I love learning, but I also want to work. In the last
44 years I have studied economics, education and sociology at universities
in Bulgaria and Britain. "I am qualified as an industrial engineer,
as an English teacher and as an electrical engineer as well as having
my five Masters degrees. "But in Bulgaria I have found that employers
do not want clever employees. Even when I had a job, the largest salary
I ever managed was just £90 a month."

A Bulgarian customs
officer who stole a gadget-packed phone was caught when its owner, the
US Ambassador, activated the GPS program.
Ambassador John Beyrle activated the phone's GPS - Global Positioning
System - to locate it in the officer's pocket. He was travelling from
Varna to Hungary when his mobile phone went missing while his hand luggage
was being x-rayed. Airport staff searched for the device, but all the
customs officers claimed that they hadn't found a phone. But the high-tech
device was equipped with GPS and the Ambassador just had to open his lap-top
for him to see the exact position of his phone within the customs officer's
pocket. The man and his accomplice have now been arrested, and both face
the sack as well as malpractice and theft charges.

c585BC
Greeks settle in aea of Varna on the Black Sea, followed by the Romans,
Byzantines and Turks. 681 Bulgaria's 1st kingdom established. 1014 The
Byzantine Emperor Basil earns title "Slayer of Bulgers" after
ordering blinding of 15,000 Bulgarian troops. 1861 Ferdinand I, 1st tsar
of modern Bulgaria born. 1885 Coup d'etat leads to war between Serbia
and Bulgaria. 1908 Bulgaria declared independence from Ottoman Empire
(Turkey). 1913 Serbia & Greece declares war on Bulgaria. 1915 Great
Britain declares war on Bulgaria. 1919 Bulgaria signs peace treaty with
Allies. 1941 Bulgaria joins Axis as Nazis occupy Sofia. 1943 King Boris,
returning from a meeting with Hitler, dies under mysterious circumstances.
1944 Soviets invades German-occupied Bulgaria. 1946 Monarchy abolished
in referendum. Communist Party wins election. 1968 Bulgarian troops take
part in Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia. 1978 Bulgarian dissident dies
in London after apparently being injected with poison from the tip of
an umbrella. 1984 Government forces Turkish minority to take Slavic names.
1989 Mass exodus of Bulgarian Turks. 2004 Bulgaria is admitted to Nato.
2005 Bulgaria signs EU accession treaty, putting it on course to join
in 2007.

I
really struggled here. I dissected a large list, and came up with three
I've heard of, and another who I really think I should have
Magdalena Maleeva
Hristo Stoitchkov
Kolyo Ficheto - builder
John Vincent Atanasoff - did he invent the computer?